So I finally got around to watching Zombieland, and I must say my expectations weren’t all that high. But to be honest, they weren’t that low either.
When the movie was in theaters, I had seen some commercials, and I was interested in what appeared to be a movie about fighting zombies at an amusement park. In fact, when I re-read that thought, a movie about fighting zombies at an amusement park still sounds awesome to me. They even decided to use the same actor from the movie Adventureland, and to tell you the truth, if Adventureland had zombies, I would’ve liked it a lot better. Plus, Woody Harrelson was in the commercials looking like a zombie-fighting baddass, so that was a huge bonus too.
For one reason or another I didn’t get around to seeing it at the theater even though it was the highest grossing zombie movie ever, but the other day we had some friends over and decided to rent it from the Redbox down the street. Long story short, I liked the movie. I liked that it had fun with itself. It didn’t take itself seriously. As someone who enjoys the zombie mythos, and someone who believes that yes, you can make a bad zombie movie, this is the first zombie movie I can remember that really made me laugh and smile.
Sure, Shaun of the Dead was funny, but that was British humor. I enjoy British humor from time to time, but…this is Woody Harrelson and zombies! That idea is hilarious. In my opinion I put Woody Harrelson’s character of Tallahassee in Zombieland up there with Shuan from Shaun of the Dead and Ash from Evil Dead and Army of Darkness.
I know right now it seems like we’re inundated with zombie fiction, but it’s good to see that a fun little gem like Zombieland can pop up in the midst of it all. If you haven’t seen it, and you like funny zombie fiction, Woody Harrelson, and a surprisingly intelligent look at living in the world after a zombie apocalypse, then check it out. It’s definitely worth a dollar rental at the Redbox.
And if you liked Zombieland, you’d probably like any of Max Brook’s books like The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. Last time I checked, there was a World War Z movie in the works. And if you’re looking for more awesome zombie fiction after you’ve seen every zombie movie, check out a comic written by Robert Kirkman called The Walking Dead. There are a bunch of collected graphic novels out, and AMC recently picked it up to make a TV show which I’m hoping will be good.
Oh! I just looked on IMDB, and it appears there is a Zombieland 2 in the works. Nice.